About Me

My four decade publishing career has been a continuous post-graduate education. This blog is intended as an on going first hand account, eclectic and opinionated in nature, on a wide range of interests, from business and politics to music, literature and theater, with some family history along the way.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Be-twitched Bothered Bewildered

I’m still recoiling from Meet the Press last Sunday, in particular Chuck Todd’s brief
interview with Ted Cruz.If Donald Trump
is a symptom of a malignancy in American politics, Cruz is part of the disease
itself.Here’s a brief except from that interview:

CHUCK TODD:

I want you to react
to something here that President Obama said at a fundraiser, responding to the
tone of Donald Trump rallies. Here it is, sir.

(BEGIN TAPE)

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

And what's been
happening in our politics lately is not an accident. For years, we've been told
we should be angry about America and that the economy's a disaster. And that
we're weak. And that compromise is weakness. And that you can ignore science
and you could ignore facts and say whatever you want about the president. And
feed suspicion about immigrants and Muslims and poor people and people who
aren't like us.

(END TAPE)

CHUCK TODD:

That's the
president essentially saying, "This has been happening for years,"
before most of his term.

SEN. TED CRUZ:

You know, Chuck,
Barack Obama's a world class demagogue. That language there is designed to
divide us. No, Mr. President, we're not angry at that. We're angry at
politicians in Washington, including you, who ignore the men and women who
elected you. Who have been presiding over our jobs going overseas for seven years?

Who have been
cutting deals that are enriching the rich and powerful, the special interests
and the big corporations, while working men and women are seeing their wages stagnating?
And he talks about immigrants and
Muslims. Mr. President, we're mad at a president who wants to bring in Syrian
refugees who may be infiltrated by ISIS. And you're unwilling to be commander
in chief and keep us safe. So don't engage in attacking the people, like the
president did.

Wow, it takes a demagogue to call someone a demagogue.Psittacisms for the masses, from both Cruz
and Trump.

This brought Mr. Cruz into power as a leading Tea Party
advocate. His obstructionist voice has been a leading one during his Senate
occupancy, effectively shutting down any hope of compromise. No
wonder the President had to resort to his much criticized use of Executive
Orders, although his use of such orders has averaged less than George Bush’s.

And, yet, there is the whiff of truth in some of what he
says, no, not about Obama being the cause, but about a long-building anger,
much longer than Mr. Cruz et al would like it to be known.Bernie Sanders taps into similar angst.At the heart of that fury is the American
socio-economic landscape which has changed over the years, but you could count
them in decades.The last seven years
were more of the same for the disenfranchised middle class, watching their earning
power and employability decline in relation to better educated, higher income
families. Consequently, wage inequality has grown, but this has been going on for thirty five years, well documented by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)

Unfortunately, there is no easy panacea for this other
than for our country to come to grips with the reality of today’s world.The industrial revolution has morphed into a cyber
revolution, where geographic borders do not exist. Workers are being displaced by technology,
robotics. It is not a question of
bringing manufacturing jobs home any more; it’s the challenge of educating
workers in new skills.Any politician
who holds out the trade war card is delusional, playing a simplistic card to
get elected.We’re a country after a
quick fix and it sounds good, make “tough” deals with China, tax their goods
sky high.Wait until the quick fixers
see the new prices at Walmart.None of
them will like that either (unless a President Trump makes Walmart reduce their prices! :-)

But nothing rings truer for the disenfranchised than the
Trumperian throwaway that in 15 minutes he’d solve the trade deficit.Our trade agreements have evolved over years
of negotiations and it’s not that simple Donald (or Ted).Admittedly the currency manipulations on the
part of governments all over the world throw aspects of trade agreements under
the bus, each region fighting for a larger piece of a pie that is growing only
oh-so-very-slowly.We have the
“advantage” of having (at least seemingly) the currency of last resort, and
this is yet another factor in the strong dollar, but that further contributes to making foreign goods
cheaper and our exports more expensive.It is
the inverse of the early 1980’s when the dollar was cheap and interest rates
were double digits, inflationary fears running amuck.Today there is little inflation with whiffs
of deflation.

This is all in the wake of the most dangerous economic
crisis we have faced since the Great Depression.In the absence of
Congress being able to agree upon fiscal policy the temporary fix was radical monetary policy engineered
by the Federal Reserve.Someone had to
act.But the Fed now is blamed by the Party of No.

Nonetheless we are left with debt; it could have been
less with sounder fiscal policy, but that was not to be.Where would Ted Cruz’s flat tax plan and
tying the dollar to the Gold Standard leave us?And the Trump solution? “Trust
me, I make good deals.”Whatever that
means.

For anyone who has read thus far, I leave the reader with
an “out-of-the-box” review on the subject (hat tip to my son, Chris).It is the most cynical analysis I’ve ever read,
authored by “Cognitive Dissonance,” Down the
Trump Rabbit Hole - Manufacturing Consent.

It attempts to explain Trump in light of the “system”
which “Cognitive Dissonance” equates to “The Empire,” its purpose to always
move forward, to consume. Everyone within
the empire serves the Empire, including its individual and corporate
‘citizens’. This especially holds true for its upper level civil ‘servants’,
political appointees, elected office holders, state and federal judges, the
military at all levels including ‘civilian police officers, the oligarchs and
elites. And most importantly, the President of the United States. All are
beholden to the Empire and constitute the court of the Empire. While the
president may be considered the Chief Executive Officer, the president works for
the Empire and is controlled by the Empire’s court. The power of the president
flows up from the Empire’s court, not down from the president

So how does this relate to The Donald? When
your credibility is suddenly called into question and people begin to seek
alternative ‘authorities’, give the people what they want…though not exactly
what they want, just what you have conditioned them to believe they want. Or as
is the case with our current situation, since anyone who is presently an
authority is not to be trusted, give people the antithesis of the existing
authority structure.The Donald.

“Cognitive Dissonance” goes on to argue that as Clinton
is a “child of the court,” she cannot deliver what the Empire’s subjects
perceive to be needed for the Empire’s very survival.Only the anti-establishment holds that power
but expect Trump to concoct some mighty
reforms which will bleed and permanently weaken the middle class even further.
You didn’t expect the elite and court to actually pay for the reforms…did you?

I would like to believe that this cynicism is merely an
exaggeration of the truth, that we’re better than that, and reasonable people
can come to long term solutions. Yes,
more and more time will be needed as the can is kicked further down the road. To deal with the national debt we first have
to work towards a balanced budget.A
tall order in today’s world, one that will exact pain, particularly for the Plutocracy,
but in the end for us all.We’ve lived
long enough by borrowing against the future.Do we have the fortitude, the patience, and above all the willingness to
make compromises?

If not, “Cognitive Dissonance” might be right on the
mark.

On the other hand, “Stonekettle” has hit it out of the
ballpark once again.I’ve mentioned this
blog before.Its views are compelling,
brutally honest, no holding back for Jim Wright, the blog's author.His take on the topic was published in two
parts, the latest being his The Latter Days of a Better Nation, Part II.

Far too many
Americans still think of Trump’s campaign as a joke and they keep waiting for
the laugh ... but somehow the punch line never comes.

It never comes
because, you see, the joke is on us. All of us, conservatives and liberals,
republicans and democrats and the independents.

In effect, to understand Trumpism, look in a mirror. We’ve given rise to him.As Wright concludes, if you want a better nation, be better citizens.

I thought I was done with this.In the process of posting this entry President Obama was
delivering an eloquent speech, nominating Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.Mitch McConnell now responding in the
background, with “let the people decide.”We did in 2012.So, the beat goes
on….